Fitting the page on my computer screen

[Jim Fynes]

Help, if possible.  I have to scroll left and right to read the page on my screen.  Is there something I can do to see the whole page?
Thanks,  Jim

[bob lamb]

I, too, have that problem.  Hope the Cap'n has a solution :cry:

[CaptK]

Hi guys -

The settings for that are most likely something you'll need to change on your systems, as far as I can tell. I looked into the site configuration software and found no way to set the page size - although I think it is supposed to scale somewhat depending on the end users computer settings (that's you).

Caveat - I don't use windows, so there may be (probably will be) an error or two here that you'll see and/or have to figure out a little on your own.

There are 2 things to consider - the physical screen size of your monitor, and the resolution you have set to view what is shown on your monitor screen.

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One thing that determines what you see is the physical size of the screen of your computer monitor. If you are using small monitors - say 12, 14, or 15 inch (measured diagonally across the screen), then you will probably not be able to do much about what you see. 17 inch or larger monitors, and we can make it look better. Generally, the bigger your monitor, the more flexibility you have.

If you have one of the smaller monitors listed above, I'd really recommend that you buy a bigger monitor. Why? Because they are pretty darned cheap, much much cheaper than an eye doctors bill. I bought my 65 yr old mother a 17" monitor for Christmas last year from WalMart, it was under $100. She'd been getting headaches and felt tired whenever using her computer - a bigger screen was easier on her eyes, and she stopped having those problems. I just checked the BestBuy website, you can get a 17" monitor from them for $100 (I saw 2 at that price).

You can probably also find used monitors for even cheaper, if not free or almost. If you are near a bigger city, Salvation Army stores and the like often have donated computers for sale, you can get some bargains there. Also, check with a computer shop, one that isn't a chain store. Get an idea of what retail prices for a new monitor are before you go in there, and you will have a better idea of what they should be charging, you may be able to bargain a bit, too. I would be hesitant to pay over $50 for a used monitor, when I could get a brand new (with warranty) monitor for $100 or less.

"CRT" (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors are usually cheaper, and have a better screen than a low-end LCD monitor. LCD's are all the rage right now (because they are smaller, basically), but with what I've seen of the lower priced LCD units, I'd recommend you look for a CRT - you'll get a better, bigger picture for the same amount of money, or even less.

OK, assuming you will get or already have a larger screen than 15"....

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The next thing is the "video resolution" at which your computer is set to display things on the screen. I fiddled with mine, and I am betting that your computers are set to a display resolution of "800 x 600" pixels. You can change that. (This is where my instructions may vary a bit from what you actually see on-screen, because I am not using windows and you probably are. ). Maybe if a windows user could chime in here and correct /edit what  mistakes I make, that would be great. Or maybe you guys could help each other with what you see. I'm not too familiar with windows xp, what follows will come from my win98 memories.

Put your mouse cursor somewhere on your computer screen where there is no window open, and Right Click. A menu will pop up, and it will have an option similar to "Configure Desktop" or "Desktop Settings" or maybe "Video Settings". Left click on that option.

A new little window will come up. There will be some tabs across the top, for Screensaver, Theme, Style, etc etc. The far right hand one (maybe called "Display Options") will have to do with settings. Left click that tab, so that you can see the settings content.

You should see at least 2 options which can be set from this screen - one will be similar to "16 bit color" (the number may be different - 8, or 24, or 32  colors), and the other will look similar to "800x600". The second one is the one you want to change. See if you can set it to the next larger option it gives you, which might be "1024x768" or "1280x1024". If you can change it, it will reset your screen to the new resolution size, and have a little pop up window which asks if you want to keep the settings change. I think it gives you 10 or 15 secs to answer Yes (or OK) or No (Cancel). If you don't click one of those, it will revert to the original setting.

My screen is set at the "1024" size, and I don't need to side scroll, so try that setting, and it should work for you, too.

One last thing - when you change the resolution to this larger setting, the size of the letters / fonts on your screen will look smaller. You can change this, too, so that it is easier to read. I am not sure where the font size setting is, but IIRC (if I recall correctly), the font setting gives you 2 or 3 options, something like "72dpi", "96dpi" and "Custom". It may also just say "Use large(r) fonts", I don't remember. Anyway, select the option to use larger fonts, and it will be easy to read again.

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OK, give that a shot, and let us know how it works. I'll check back to see if that fixed things for you. It took a lot longer to type or read this than it takes to make thes changes, and they are also simple to change back, if you don't like the result. Good luck!

[bob lamb]

I successfully changed the settings on my screen and now the proper page width is right.  Now, if I could only figure out how to do that on your "illuminations out on the water" site I'd be happy (the pics are fine but the print is far too small to even read???)

Bob in Raleigh

[CaptK]

Bob -

Which web browser are you using?

If you are using internet explorr, there may be a font setting under the Options or Preferences that you can change. I'm not sure what is going on there, I've used explorer on my brothers computer and the site looks fine from there. Wish I could help more with that...

Have you heard of the Firefox browser? It is a free browser that works *a lot* better than i-explorer, is faster, and is also much better for you to use from a computer security standpoint. You can download it for free from http://www.mozilla.org/ , the file is less than 5MB in size. It has nice features like a built in pop-up-blocker. AND you can have it make the size of text on a web page larger or smaller with a click, depending on your preference. It is really nicely done, and it seems that everyone who tries it winds up liking it a lot better.

I'm more of a geek than most people I know, but if you use windows and internet explorer together there are some "bad geeks" :mrgreen: out there who will take advantage of some inherent flaws in those two that will make your computer slow down or even quit working. I do computer work for people from time to time, and I always tell them to "Use FireFox As Much As Possible!!!", and use iexplore ONLY when they go to the microsoft website for security updates. Especially if you have a broadband connection - using explorer on broadband is like broadcasting "Come get me!" to the bad guys out there.

[jimfynes]

CaptK, thanks for the quick reply. I tried the change to the 1024 and while the page did show up full view on the screen, the text was small and the page itself was small on the monitor screen. And I could not get the page up to full size on the screen.   I am using Windows 98, Internet Explorer and I also tried Mozilla, no difference with Mozilla.   I have a 19" monitor).  What  confuses me is that the home page for CPYOA is just fine, shows up at full screen size, no scrolling.  Same for  the Image gallery, Classified, and the Links page, no problem with them.     It's only the forum that goes off screen..and the responses.    For what it's worth,  a couple of other forums I watch are Trailor Sailer and Catboats and I don't have the problem there.  I hope it does not sound like I am complaining, I'm not, I appreciate the site and the work you do to keep it up and running.  Just that  it would be nice to see it all at once.   Thanks    Jim Fynes

[Anonymous]

CaptK,

I also have the problem being described here.  However, I use both IE and Mozilla Firefox.  Both give the same results.  
But when I notice it the most is when I do NOT have my window Maximized.  I usually am doing more than one thing at once and keep my windows sized to about 75% of screensize so I can see (at least parts of) multiple windows at once.  
Most websites will wrap the text when a window is not Max'ed to make the page narrower, but longer, so that all the text is displayed.  That does not seem to be happening on the com-pacowners.com site.  The lines do not seem to wraparound if the width of the window is less than screen width.  There are some times when posts are created that are wider than screen size.  When that is the case I have to scroll several times to see the end of lines.
Grant White

[CaptK]

In regards to the last 2 posts, I am going to get fairly technical and obtuse, and some of what I say may come across as too nerdy, but here goes -

Hmm, I have no idea what is going on. :mrgreen:

Grant makes a point - that the text wraps when the window is maximized - that may have some bearing on why it looks.

I'll do some digging around on the phpBB developers site, and see if I can find some relevant info to this situation.

[Damsel19?]

The easiest way I found in winxp on a 17 inch monitor to se the whole text is to go to view on the explorer bar and choose full screen.  worked for me.